Sterile inflammatory diseases

Trained immunity and sterile inflammatory diseases

Institute of Innate Immunity, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Research topic

Over the last two centuries, a large shift from deaths caused from microbial infections to deaths caused by non-communicable diseases has occurred. Today, in Western societies over 80% of deaths are caused by diseases associated with aging and diseases influenced by changes in lifestyle and the consumption of ultra-processed Western-type diets, such as type II diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Chronic inflammation is a shared denominator in most of these common non-communicable diseases.

We are interested in deciphering whether trained immunity can be induced by sterile inflammation and how trained immunity mechanisms can contribute to disease pathogenesis in sterile inflammatory diseases.

These mechanisms could be part of the increased susceptibility of patients with chronic inflammatory diseases towards cardiovascular complication or vice versa.